Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, will be talking about branding at this year’s TED Conference in Long Beach, CA. For those of you who aren’t familiar with TED (stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design):

The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Edinburgh, bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

In an interesting move, one that exemplifies branding in a whole new way, Spurlock has decided to sell the naming rights to his talk.

“If you are the highest bidder, then during my talk I will make reference to your company, reflect positively on your placement and share the process of how you got involved.”

When I checked his eBay listing the other day, the bid stood at around $525. Surprisingly, the highest bid is now $2,550.

I admire the clever, out-of-the box thinking, but think that just name dropping is not enough. People remember things better when the read rather than hear…Spurlock should also wear a t-shirt with the winning bidders’ logo/name. Just a thought.